A consortium led by battery manufacturer Axeon has been awarded £1.3m by the Technology Strategy Board to develop a lightweight battery for use in small electric cars.

Axeon, based in Dundee, will lead development in partnership with motoring technology and engineering company, Ricardo and manufacturer, Allied Vehicles. The aim of the project is to develop a high-energy density battery system for an emission-free small city car and improve on performance, functionality and range.

Over the next two years, Ricardo will develop the battery management system architecture and application software. Axeon will engineer and construct the battery system, perform cell testing for calibration and electronic system integration, while Allied Vehicles will design, build and test the vehicle platform.

The battery will utilise new cell chemistry technology, which has higher energy density in a lighter, smaller and more efficient unit than those currently available.The battery will also offer faster charging and a better overall range than existing batteries currently on the market.

Lawrence Berns, CEO of Axeon, said: "This project will enable us to develop a new electric car battery with improved performance that will be highly adaptable and transferable to many vehicle manufacturers."

John Laughlin, the Technology Strategy Board's low-carbon vehicles programme manager, said: "A major barrier to the widespread accep-tancof electric and hybrid vehicles is the difficulty in balancing the range of the vehicle against the available stored energy. The work we are funding will focus on developing ultraefficient electric and hybrid vehicle motive and ancillary systems that will make the best use of this energy."

AlliedVehicles' managing director, Paul Nelson, said: "This represents a great opportunity to further advance the development of electric-vehicle technology. Proving this next-generation battery technology in a live car application will be a key step in continuing to expand the appeal of zeroemission, all-electric vehicles."